Enrile 'grandson' caught trying to con mall shops

MANILA, Philippines - A 32-year-old man claiming to be a grandson of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile was arrested in a Pasay City mall Sunday for deceiving three restaurants using the senator’s name.

At one restaurant serving Mediterranean food, Alvin Mayoralgo complained that some of the food he ordered for takeout last Saturday was not included in the bag given to him by the restaurant. He said he discovered this only after he arrived home.

When asked for a receipt, Mayoralgo introduced himself as Enrile’s grandson and presented an identification card with the name Achilles Ponce Enrile. He allegedly did the same at another restaurant specializing in barbecues.

He tried to do pull the same trick at a donut shop but the staff refused to believe him. Mall security guards invited him to their office, then turned him over to the police.

Pasay police said Mayoralgo, who has reportedly been pretending to be Enrile’s relative since September 2011, will be charged with estafa and alarm and scandal. Based earlier reports, a man with the name Achilles Ponce Enrile left the Medical City on Sept. 1, 2011 with a P600,000 unpaid medical bill.

On Oct. 13, 2011, a complainant with the same name told police he lost a cell phone, a tablet, wallet, and his wedding ring, among others, in a mall in Mandaluyong City.

A month later, another Achilles Ponce Enrile went to the Quezon City police to report he was robbed by a taxi driver and claimed to have lost the same things he allegedly lost in the mall heist.

Police said a background check shows there is only one man using the alias. The senator has denied any relation to Mayoralgo and ordered his arrest.